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I think I might have accidentally destroyed a pair of two year old Iron Hearts. It had been a month or so since their last wash so I did my standard cold wash, air dry. Unfortunately they didn't dry out quite quickly enough and there was a slight mildew odor from the waist area.

I threw in some dissolved OxiClean/detergent and threw them into the wash to do a cold presoak/cold wash. Once finished I threw them onto the rack to dry out. There are brown stains throughout the inside. There is a brownish tint to almost the entire surface on the inside of the jeans. There's also a brownish/redish tint to in the areas on the front where the indigo is darker.

What in the holy hell happened? I've never had an issue like this before. the only wildcard factor was OxiClean to get the mildew smell out. Could OxiClean have caused this? I washed a pair of my black Iron Hearts using OxiClean without issue.

My first thoughts/questions are: what type of residence do you live in, what type of utilities do you have, and what type of washing machine do you have? Have you seen anything similar in any other clothes being washed in the same appliance? Reasons are those could be rust stains. To me it's unlikely mold/mildew could develop to that degree, that quickly. Unless there's a more serious underlying mold problem in the residence. If you have a water heater in your residence, have you checked it? If a water heater is on it's way out, it will put out rusty, discolored water. But that would only affect the hot water lines, not cold. Is it possible that plumbing in the residence has rusty infrastructure? Is it possible that any municipal water lines coming into the residence are rusty?

I've had experience with rust stains on clothes before (many, many years ago; college years, at a laundromat). They are difficult to get out; had to use some sort of toxic solution, but clothes weren't ruined.

Other thoughts are: how long since last wash? Any exposure to some odd/strange substance that got on your jeans? That may have had some sort of reaction to cleaning agent.

Oxiclean makes a stain removal product, it's not detergent. It works on oxygen molecules bonding to stains. It's sold in a small container, powder form. Mix in a bucket/sink of water and soak clothes for 1 hr. Has worked very well for me, especially summer shoes made of fabric. But I've not tried it on jeans, so I can't say that it would work to get stains out or that there wouldn't be any adverse affects.

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@mpukas - Actually it's a new washing machine (my own). We live in a house. No issues with any clothing before. I can't think of anything strange my jeans would have come in contact with. It's like all of the dark indigo took on a reddish/brownish tint with some of it bleeding through to the inside. The entire inside of the jeans have a rusty/browish hue to it now. So weird. Did a load of wash before and after this without issue.

How old is the water heater? Any signs of discolored water anywhere else in the house, especially at plumbing fixtures that don't get used often? What was washed in the machine before you washed your jeans, and did you wash the jeans inside out? Is it possible there was some residual substance in the machine from a previous wash that stained your jeans? Every obvious variable has to be ruled out... Otherwise I have no idea. Very strange...

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The washin machine is immaculate. I washed a load of white tshirts on cold before. I did a load of towels after. I have a tankless water heater so no worries there. I have no idea what happened. All I know is that I'm gonna have to pick up a new pair of jeans during Self Edge's black friday sale as I only have a single pair of black IHs now.

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My first thoughts/questions are: what type of residence do you live in, what type of utilities do you have, and what type of washing machine do you have? Have you seen anything similar in any other clothes being washed in the same appliance? Reasons are those could be rust stains. To me it's unlikely mold/mildew could develop to that degree, that quickly. Unless there's a more serious underlying mold problem in the residence. If you have a water heater in your residence, have you checked it? If a water heater is on it's way out, it will put out rusty, discolored water. But that would only affect the hot water lines, not cold. Is it possible that plumbing in the residence has rusty infrastructure? Is it possible that any municipal water lines coming into the residence are rusty?

I've had experience with rust stains on clothes before (many, many years ago; college years, at a laundromat). They are difficult to get out; had to use some sort of toxic solution, but clothes weren't ruined.

Other thoughts are: how long since last wash? Any exposure to some odd/strange substance that got on your jeans? That may have had some sort of reaction to cleaning agent.

Oxiclean makes a stain removal product, it's not detergent. It works on oxygen molecules bonding to stains. It's sold in a small container, powder form. Mix in a bucket/sink of water and soak clothes for 1 hr. Has worked very well for me, especially summer shoes made of fabric. But I've not tried it on jeans, so I can't say that it would work to get stains out or that there wouldn't be any adverse affects.

@harorld Its strange that the brown color would have bled through to the inside rather than appearing more on the outer surface of the fabric. That sounds more like the brown material made contact directly on this side rather than bled through. Is it dispersed equally throughout the inner fabric? Any photos?

My first thought is rust also, and the oxiclean would have compounded this problem.

If it is rust then a white vinegar treatment is probably the best thing for removal. Keep the pants inside out and pour white vinegar onto the stains, you can lightly scrub with a brush, then rinse and Air dry in direct sun.

In the future, if you have concerns with mold/mildew on fabric, then a vinegar solution is usually a better option than Oxy.

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@harold after looking at your pictures, it looks like it may be from your patch...maybe breaking down some how? It looks like there is a lot of staining behind your patch in the first picture?

Excellent deduction.

The tannins from the leather patch.

Vinegar (acetic acid) with very hot water or steam used to be a good remover of tannins from coffee, tea or wine but I think you can find a specific detergent for a tannin stain today that is superior.

looks like initial treatment of the patch and/or the successive treatment of it migrated via the threads that fix the patch onto/into the denim.
the shadow on the lower leg also seem to stem from the patch - maybe from folded storage where it touches the patch.

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Couldn't pass up on the 50% sale due to Vater & Sohn's brick & mortar store closing and ordered a 634N, maybe I'll overdye them black, maybe I'll leave them as is. Couldn't pass up on the price on them, as they were only 140€.

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Final update:
Leather patch came out really interesting, denim came out superstiff and shrank a bit.
They really are a pain in the arse to button up, let's hope they'll loosen up a little bit or I'll have to go on a diet.
All in all, until now I'm satisfied, let's see how they'll age.

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IH posted a sample of a Type I in their black X beige denim. I'm quite excited about that. I love the fabric and it pairs well with indigo jeans. I used to wear a black Levi's trucker jacket when I was a kid...

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IH posted a sample of a Type I in their black X beige denim. I'm quite excited about that. I love the fab pic and it pairs well with indigo jeans. I used to wear a black Levi's trucker jacket when I was a kid...

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Bought a pair of the yenim 666-s about a year ago and am a little disappointed. It's my first pair of Iron Heart and I was expecting them to shed indigo a lot faster than they have been. I also notice the crotch is a bit tight, so It's definitely going to blow out before these age a ton. Maybe it's due to the materials used for this iteration, but seeing if anyone has had a similar experience this this specific jean or cut in general.